Tropical Storm Hilary

One thing I don't want to do is normalize the climate-change driven changes to our current bizarre weather patterns that will continue to define our new normal. The first tropical storm to hit the west coast of North America in 84 years is just another piece of a larger example puzzle.

Also, at first I took issue with the possible name of Hurricane Hilary, since I was under the impression that enormous storms are called different things on this side of the continent. It turns out I was wrong, but only about the Eastern Pacific. Typhoons and cyclones are the names for tropical storms in other parts of the world, certainly, but in the Eastern Pacific---our neck of the woods---hurricane is still the term used:

Typhoons tend to be the most powerful because of the larger amounts of warm water, as the warm water is the fuel for these storms. The most devastating storms in recorded history have slammed into the Philippines and China.

Anyway...Hilary. On Sunday it drizzled on us for a few hours. If nobody had mentioned anything, I wouldn't have thought anything else about it. I've definitely seen much worse rainstorms at our apartment over the years. We don't live up in the desert, though, so we didn't feel the brunt of their experience.

Work was closed on Monday for us. Okay, cool...? It was hot and sunny, blue skies and sunshine. I got some chores done. 

I think the local freak out helped get people prepared, since I think much of the area feels under prepared for earthquakes and wildfires and mudslides, maybe they wanted to show off how we do for a possible hurricane.